My Last Breath
by Amber Mushi
Summary: Sheena and Zelos on the journey of regeneration. Can you feel the love? No seriously, can you?
1. Shut Up

Disclaimer: I do not own ToS or anything else that appears in this.

This is completely different from anything else I've attempted to write. That being said, criticism and advice are definitely appreciated. R&R plz.

Happy 4th of July.

--

**My Last Breath**

Chapter 1 – Shut Up

"Watch out!"

As Sheena was flung to the ground, she felt the heat of the dragon's fire over her head. She watched as a certain red-headed swordsman expertly fought the dragon. The dragon was vanquished not long after.

"You should be more careful," Zelos said grinning, putting his hands through his hair.

"I didn't need your help," Sheena replied.

"Yeah, right. If it wasn't for me, your lovely chest would be literally too hot for me to handle right now," Zelos smirked.

"Ugh…you idiot, get away from me," Sheena shot back. She watched as Zelos went away to go help the others who were fighting. That idiot, she thought. Ever since he had joined the group, it had been nonstop talking with him. It was giant chest this, hunnies that. She grew sick of it.

Sheena wondered all the time what it would take for Zelos to shut up. Even when they were on some floating island fighting Rodyle's dragons trying to rescue Colette, he never stopped talking. She couldn't stand the arrogance in his voice. His know-it-all attitude. His damn perverted comments. She could go on and on.

"Sheena, look out!" Sheena jumped in shock, her thoughts about Zelos interrupted.

"You all right? You really shouldn't be standing still while fighting," Lloyd told her.

She had been standing still for a while now, thinking about Zelos. Standing still in battle was definitely not a good thing. She didn't need anybody to tell her this. And she didn't need to waste time thinking about that idiot Chosen.

"Right, sorry about that. I had something on my mind," Sheena replied softly. From a distance, she could still hear Zelos talking.

"Not the face!"

Days later, Sheena was thinking about what had happened. The last few days had gone by quickly. Sheena was just now trying to reflect and absorb all that had happened.

After the defeat of Rodyle's dragons and the rescue of Colette, the group had decided to continue forming pacts with the Summon Spirits. After forming a pact with Celsius, they had seen lightning strike Ozette. Because it was Presea's home, they decided to check it out.

Once there, they found a half-elf by the name of Mithos. The group had convinced him that they meant the best for him and he joined them. Then, all of a sudden, Raine had disappeared. In trying to find her, they had tracked her down to the supposed Otherworldly Gate. It was supposed to open up a portal to Sylvarant soon. But all this information was not processing in Sheena's head. Something much more distracting was standing in front of her right now.

Kuchinawa's eyes looked in to hers. In his eyes, she could feel the intensive fury of his anger. He then spoke, "Finally, my chance to avenge my parents' deaths has arrived."

Sheena was stunned as she looked at her long-time friend. "Wh-What are you talking about? Avenge your parents?"

"You know what I'm talking about," he replied simply. When Sheena and the other remained silent, he spoke again.

"Don't act so innocent, I'm going to kill you here right now for causing the deaths of my parents along with countless citizens of our village," he said coldly. He snapped his fingers, and the group found themselves instantly surrounded by the Papal Knights.

Sheena was once again shocked. "What?!" she exclaimed in disbelief. She could not believe it. Her one-time best friend was now accusing her of murder. What had gone wrong?

Lloyd rushed to her defense. "What are you talking about, that was an accident!"

"Accident?!" Kuchinawa repeated. "Don't make me laugh. I could have accepted things had she just failed to make a pact with some Summon Spirit. But then she failed to assassinate the Chosen, placing Mizuho in danger. Then she brought you filthy lot into the village. But look at her now! She's been making pacts just like that!"

"You have it all wrong!" Colette interrupted.

"Do I? I don't even think she was trying during the first attempt. Because of that, she killed my parents and my people!" Kuchinawa screamed with anger.

Sheena found her voice again and quietly said, "I…I did the best I could. I-"

"Enough excuses, bitch!" he roared.

"Are you serious right now?" A new voice interrupted. Zelos was eyeing Kuchinawa with disgust. "I've never met anybody so ignorant in my life," he continued. "You can not honestly believe that she intentionally killed that many people. I mean you've got to be ridiculously stupid to think that right now."

"Shut up," Kuchinawa told Zelos, unfazed by his words. Three of the Papal Knights ran forward. Lloyd, Zelos, and Presea immediately attacked, knocking them out. They looked up, only to find three more replacing their place in line.

"Damn," Lloyd said. "There's too many of them."

"Kuchinawa! Please don't drag them into this," Sheena pleaded. "I'm the one you hate, right? I'm the only one you need to kill. Let them go!"

"Sheena, don't talk like that," Lloyd said.

"It's ok," she replied, preparing herself for what would be her death. She looked at Kuchinawa once more. "Please, Kuchinawa," she begged.

"Fine," he replied. Sheena stepped closer, while the rest of the group watched in shock. Then, white light struck the middle of the stones, and the gate was activated.

Zelos seized this chance. "You've got to be kidding me. Enough of this bullshit, Sheena." He grabbed her arm and dragged her towards the portal.

"Hey, let me go," she protested, trying to free herself.

"Shut up," Zelos told her in return as they were sucked in by the portal.

"Come on, everyone. Let's get out of here," Lloyd shouted to the rest of the group as he went through the portal himself. The rest of the group followed, leaving Kuchinawa and the Papal Knights back in Tethe'alla.

Sheena found herself falling. Then a second later, she was in Zelos' lap. After realizing this, she quickly stood up, feeling both embarrassment and disgust.

The rest of the group had apparently made it safely as well.

"…Where are we?" Regal asked after looking around.

After taking a moment to observe her surroundings, Raine answered, "Probably on the outskirts of Palmacosta."

"We're back in Sylvarant?" Colette asked while standing up.

"Yeah, it feels a little different, but it's definitely Sylvarant," Genis told her.

Zelos approached the group. "Man, never thought I'd get over here like that!" he exclaimed. Sheena's anger returned at the sound of his voice and she approached the redhead angrily.

"Zelos, why the hell did you butt in?" she demanded.

Zelos stared at her, his eyes piercing hers. "Excuse me?" he asked in disbelief. "Don't tell me you were actually planning to get yourself killed over there."

Sheena was at a loss for words. "W-Well…" she stuttered.

"Besides, those guys would have come after us anyways. Pope's orders and all. Not to mention, that friend of yours is a complete psycho," Zelos went on.

"Zelos saved you, Sheena. You should be thanking him," Lloyd said.

Sheena thought it over. Those were the Pope's men. Now that she thought about it, it would have been extremely unlikely that the Knights would have let her friends go. They were a band of criminals, after all. So Zelos _did_ save her life. She couldn't believe it.

"…Thanks," she reluctantly muttered.

"Come on, would it hurt you to give me a kiss or two?" he asked leaning over.

"Don't push it," she replied, pushing him away and making him fall to the ground.

Zelos laughed and told her, "Just wait. I'll have you falling in love with me in no time."

Sheena and the others left Zelos on the ground and walked near towards Palmacosta. She thought about what he had just said. Her? Falling in love with him?

"Never gonna happen," she vowed to herself.

--

A/N: Not too bad, I hope.


	2. Master Zelos

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Ch. 2 – Master Zelos

--

Yuan was a traitor. Rodyle and Botta were dead. Regal was Alicia's killer. Kuchinawa was working with Vharley and the Pope. Sheena had not thought about Kuchinawa for a while, but his image was once again brought up in her mind at the news she had just found out.

She closed her eyes, asking herself again for the millionth time. What had gone wrong? What had suddenly made Kuchinawa hate her so much? They had been friends for the longest time. It couldn't only be because of a few pacts. Everyone could tell when she was thinking about Kuchinawa as she grew unresponsive and avoided everyone.

"Hey Sheena, what's up?"

Sheena's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of the voice. She already knew who it was, not only from the voice, but because only one person would ever bother her in a state like this.

"What do you want?" she answered annoyed at the disruption. She still had her eyes closed.

"Nothing, just wanted to see how my lovely hunny was doing. It's not like you to mope around."

"Yeah, well I'm not looking for you to cheer me up."

"That's the spirit!" Zelos said enthusiastically.

Sheena opened her eyes and saw Zelos' eyes staring directly into hers. She instantly closed her eyes again and started talking again. "It's just…Kuchinawa…"

Zelos shrugged it off. "Ah, well…what can you do? Try not to-"

"Just leave me alone!" Sheena looked at Zelos and angrily interrupted. "I hate traitors more than anything else!"

"If I recall correctly…" Zelos started.

"Just leave me alone!"

"All right…sheesh. Nothing worse than a crazy woman after you…" he muttered while walking away.

Sheena angrily held back her tears. She couldn't cry now. Not while she was with everyone. That stupid Chosen. Why was he always bothering her? Everyone else left her alone. He should just follow their examples and do the same…

"We're here," Raine announced. They had arrived at Meltokio.

"Right," Zelos said. "Let's all go to my mansion and we can all relax over there for a while." Everyone agreed that it was a good idea and headed towards the direction. However, something...or someone was in the way. Make that several someones.

"Master Zelos, where have you been?" asked a voice that sounded like it belonged to an incredibly slutty woman. Sheena slapped her forehead at the thought of having to deal with these dumb whores.

Zelos froze. "Damn," he muttered under his breath. He put on a bright face and started talking. "Well, my hunnies, I-"

"Is that Sheena of Mizuho?" interrupted the voice of another slutty girl. "What's that slut doing with Master Zelos?"

"What'd you say?!" Sheena yelled.

"You heard me," answered Slut #2, oblivious to the irony. "Stop seducing Master Zelos! Go back to Mizuho, ugly whore!"

Sheena was infuriated. "You think I _want_ to be with this idiot?!" she yelled while pointing to Zelos. "In case you're too retarded to figure out, I don't!"

"Now, now, my hunnies," Zelos butted in. "No fighting, please. There's plenty of me to go around. You can all- "

Sheena let out a low growl, clearly angry to everyone around her. Zelos noticed this and started to nervously say, "Well…I think it's best if we kept on moving…"

Suddenly a dozen more girls appeared out of nowhere, all running towards Zelos, who tried to run at the sight of them. But there were too many of them and Zelos ended up being smothered by the bodies of his groupies.

"Oh, Master Zelos," moaned Slut #11. Several moans like the previous ones were emitted from the giant pile of bodies, disgusting the rest of the party. After what seemed like forever, the groupies all got up and dragged Zelos off with them. His screams as he was dragged away were heard by the rest of the group, who were still trying to comprehend what had just happened in front of their eyes.

"Um…shouldn't we help him?" asked Lloyd, breaking the silence.

"Just leave him alone," answered Sheena, still angry at Zelos' comments.

"Well, how are we going to get into his house?" asked Raine.

"Don't worry, he never keeps the door locked," answered Genis as he went up to the door, pushed it open, and entered. The rest of the group shrugged, and followed Genis inside the mansion. As they entered, they were greeted by Sebastian, Zelos' butler.

"Ah, Sir Bud and company," Sebastian said looking over the group. "Please help yourself to anything you want. You are, after all, Master Zelos' guests."

"Thank you, Sebastian," Raine told the butler, interrupting Lloyd who was about to shout at Sebastian for getting his name wrong. "You may go."

"Well," Raine continued. "I think we're free to do whatever we want at least until Zelos comes back from his…thing. So I'm going to go take a nap. Do whatever you want, but the first person to wake me up is going to be sorry," she finished threateningly.

As Raine headed to a bedroom, Regal walked off to find Sebastian, and the rest headed for the kitchen.

"Sheena, aren't you coming?" asked Colette.

"Yeah, I'll be there. I'm gonna go take a shower first," Sheena replied. (A/N: I think everybody knows what's going to happen next.)

Sheena entered the bathroom, closed the door and slowly undressed herself while looking at the mirror. She realized then that she was reacting to Slut #2's comments and quickly slapped herself. "Get a grip," she told herself. She got into the shower in an attempt to forget all about it.

As the water ran over her body, Sheena stood still. It had been a while since she felt this relaxed. No idiot Chosen to bother her. She stood still for a while, listening to the water drop to the floor. But, as time went on, she could not get Zelos out of her head.

"Damn it," she muttered angrily. Why the hell couldn't she get him out of her head? There was something about him, certainly, but it was nothing good. So why did she have such a hard time forgetting about him? She quickly finished her shower and got out and proceeded to dry herself.

Suddenly then, the door opened…and Sheena realized far too late that she had forgotten to lock the door. Zelos walked in, grumbling to himself, "I need to tell them to be more gentle next time…" His clothes were in bad condition and he was in the process of removing his shirt.

Sheena stood, frozen as Zelos took his shirt off and finally realized there was somebody else in the room.

"Sheena! What's up, hunny?" asked Zelos without his shirt as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Sheena immediately began to hit Zelos, swearing at him to get out.

"Stupid pervert! Get out!" she screamed as she tried to cover herself.

"Woah, woah, hold on!" yelled Zelos running for his dear life. "I can explain!"

"Don't try and pull that curiosity towards the unknown bullshit on me again, Zelos Wilder!"

"HELP!" screamed Zelos as Sheena repeatedly hit him, calling him obscenities with every hit.

Hours later, Sheena was locked up in her room, lying on her bed when somebody knocked on her door. No points for guessing who.

"Sheena, let me in."

"Leave me alone!" she shouted at the door.

"Look, I just want to say I'm sorry, k? I seriously didn't mean to walk in on you."

"Didn't stop you from staring at them."

"Can you blame me? You have a nice body. It's about time you realize that."

"Whatever. Get out of here."

As Sheena heard the footsteps going away, she closed her eyes again ready to go to sleep. "Stupid pervert," she muttered to herself.

Downstairs, the rest of the group jumped when they heard a scream coming from Sheena's room.

"Get out of my head!"


	3. Jealous?

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

Ch. 3 – Jealous?

--

Sheena woke up in the middle of the night. Something was bothering her. It was Zelos…again. Something didn't feel right. He had actually apologized and she had just ignored him. She knew that if she didn't apologize for her behavior it would keep bothering her. She was just that type of person. She hated it.

Her mind made up, she got out of bed and walked out of her room. She was walking down the hall, searching for Zelos' room when she heard a sound come from somewhere.

"AH!"

It was a girl's voice that she didn't recognize. It sounded like she was in pain. "What the hell…" she muttered. She glanced around, trying to see where the sound came from. Then, she heard it again.

"Yes! Oh yes! Harder! Come on!"

Oh, just someone in the next room having sex. No big deal, she thought to herself and continued walking down the hall. Wait, what?! Sheena quickly walked closer to where the sound was coming from.

"So good! Harder!"

Sheena put her ears against the door and listened to the moans coming from the bedroom. She was trying to recognize the voice. It sounded familiar, but she could not tell who it was. She counted off the people in the house.

"Raine? No, too high. Colette and Presea? Let's hope not." Sheena was puzzled. There were no other girls in the house.

"Ah, well. It's probably nothing," she told herself. She was about to walk away when her curiosity got the best of her and before she knew it, she had put her hand on the knob.

"Just a little peek," she told herself. "Just one look, and I'll go look for Zelos."

She opened the door (which was not locked) a little bit and peeked inside. What she saw inside blew her mind.

"Princess Hilda!" she exclaimed under her breath. That's why the voice had sounded familiar. The Princess would have noticed her standing outside had she not been making such loud noises that reminded Sheena of a pig. Sheena tore her eyes away from the Princess and finally took a look at the man. She was left speechless as she definitely recognized him. He was the owner of the mansion, the one she was trying to find to apologize to.

Suddenly, Sheena boiled up with anger. She slammed the door, which went unheard by the couple, and stomped back to her room swearing under her breath.

"Damn perverted bastard…what's he trying to do? Apologizing to me and then goes off and screws the Princess…stupid whore," she muttered while slamming her own door shut. She plopped down on her bed and tried to go back to sleep.

It was impossible. She was simply too pissed off. But to her surprise, she found herself blaming not Zelos…but the Princess. Besides the anger, she felt something else. An empty feeling. Something she hadn't ever felt before. What was it? She couldn't tell.

Sheena shook her head hard and punched the mattress, imagining Hilda's face. She stopped herself in the middle of her fifth punch and asked herself, "Wait…why the hell should I care what whore Zelos sleeps with? It's not like we're a couple or anything…" Sheena thought about this and did not sleep for the rest of the night.

* * *

The next morning, the group was in the kitchen, jabbering on happily about all sorts of nonsense when all of a sudden, the talking stopped.

There was a hush of silence as all eyes were on Sheena when she entered the dining room. Finally, Genis broke the silence.

"Sheena, you look terrible," he said with his mouth full of food, immediately earning a slap from his sister who was sitting next to him.

"Genis! You don't tell people that they look terrible, even if it is true!" Raine scolded her younger brother. She turned to Sheena and her expression softened as she talked. "You really don't look well, dear. Everything all right?"

"Huh? Yeah, everything's spectacular," Sheena answered bitterly, obviously still upset about last night's events, not that anybody knew what had happened. She sat down at her place at the table and began picking at the pancake in front of her.

"Helloooo, hunnies!" cried a familiar voice emerging from the kitchen. "What a beautiful morning it is. We couldn't ask for a more- WHOA! Sheena, what happened to you?"

"None of your business," Sheena replied.

Zelos shrugged and brightly said, "Well, eat then! I made these blueberry pancakes just for you!"

"_You_ made them?" Sheena asked in surprise.

"Yup, not only am I unbelievably handsome and intelligent, the great Zelos Wilder can also cook pretty damn well!" Zelos answered proudly, pointing at his apron he was wearing.

"Wait," Raine interrupted. "I thought you said you made those pancakes for me."

"What? He told me he made them for me!" Lloyd shouted, which caused almost everybody else around the table to exclaim the exact same thing.

"He didn't tell _me_ anything…" Genis muttered.

After all the misunderstandings had been resolved by Zelos' reasoning, Sheena finally sat down and took a bite. It tasted… wonderful. Possibly the best thing she had tasted in a long time. Who would have thought that Zelos could cook?

"Who wants seconds?" Zelos cheerfully asked, coming in with a pile of pancakes.

"I'll have more," Raine answered. Sheena watched as Zelos served Raine. How different he looked from last night… She unknowingly stared at him, noticing qualities she had never noticed before. How does he make his hair so perfect? So smooth and full of color, unlike hers. How had she never noticed his eyes before? Probably because every time he was around her, he started making stupid comments, which made her not want to look at him.

Zelos caught Sheena staring at him and grinned. "What's the matter, Sheena? Jealous?"

...Jealous? That was it, wasn't it? That's why it hurt so much when she saw him with the Princess… A sudden burst of anger came over her as she was reminded again of what had happened last night. Jealousy was a stupid emotion.

"Shut up!" she yelled. She picked up her delicious, half-eaten pancake and threw it at that smirking face.

The talking stopped as all eyes were now on the pancake sailing over the air. Everyone watched as it landed on Zelos' face with a loud plop. Sheena got up, pushed in her chair and stormed off.

"Wow, what'd you do now?" Genis asked, breaking the silence again.

"Beats me... I'm telling you, that girl is crazy," Zelos said with the pancake still on his face.

--

I didn't like this chapter. Something missing, only I don't know what. If you know, please tell me.

Yeah, Sheena's doing a lot of storming off.

Dutchygirl: _ Also, I don't know if you know this, but you have your account set this way that you can only recieve reviews from members._

Yeah...I didn't even know there was a feature like that. Thanks.


	4. Dear Friend

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Ch. 4 – Dear Friend

--

"Why do you keep doing this?"

"Isn't it obvious? I hate you."

"At least stop bothering my friends. I'm the only one you hate right? Then we'll settle all this in traditional Mizuho style. One-on-one duel. Tomorrow."

"How do I know you're going to come?"

"My word isn't enough?"

"The word of filth like you is worth absolutely nothing!" he hissed.

"Here…Corrine's bell," she said as she reluctantly handed him the bell, which served as a memento of her gone friend.

"Fine, if you're not there, I'm going to grind this bell to dust."

"I'll be there."

With a puff of smoke, he vanished. Sheena prepared herself. Tomorrow, all this talk about revenge and betrayal could finally end. Tomorrow, it would be only she and him. Tomorrow, she would have to confront her friend…possibly for the last time.

Sheena's mind returned to the conversation that had occurred between her and Kuchinawa a few hours earlier. Now sitting outside as dusk settled, she was concentrated on how to approach the scheduled showdown tomorrow. She didn't know if she could do it. He would most likely be aiming to kill. She didn't want to kill him. She still believed there was good left in him. She would make him change his views.

"I have to," she thought. "I can't lose anyone anymore." She stood up, her decision made. Sheena approached the house where everyone else was eating and drinking merrily, ready to join them. But, she felt something hit her head…hard. Dizziness. Then…nothing.

* * *

"Wake up," a cold voice demanded.

Sheena groggily opened her eyes and tried to focus her vision on the one in front of her. She was tied up to a tree, and couldn't move her arms or legs. She groaned and thought, "Now what?"

"I finally got you alone, and you can't even stay awake?"

"What do you want? Everything was going to be settled tomorrow."

"I decided that trash like you aren't worthy of an honorable death," Kuchinawa replied quietly. "I can't wait that long…I'll avenge my parents here."

Sheena closed her eyes, awaiting her imminent death at the hands of her friend. Nothing came. She dared to open her eyes and found Kuchinawa standing there, glaring at her. "Well?" she asked. "What are you waiting for. Get it over with. I'm sitting here, defenseless. Hurry up!" she yelled with impatience.

"Shut up!" he roared. "I'll do whatever I want. You think I dragged you all the way out here just to kill you? I could've done that anytime!" He took a breath, and grinned at her in a twisted way. Sheena had never seen him like this before. "No. I'm going to make you suffer. It'll be the worst thing you'll ever feel. You'll be begging me to kill you by the time I'm done."

He began circling around the tied-up Sheena and laughed. "And just think, we were so close when we were kids. Me, my brother and you. Damn, we did some crazy things back then, eh?" Sheena remained silent, as she reminisced.

Yes, they had done some crazy things. The two brothers had many times convinced her to join one of their schemes, only for them to run away at the last moment, leaving Sheena to take all the blame. Nevertheless, she had fun. They had accepted her. She was so tired of being rejected everywhere and finally, somebody had accepted her.

"Hey, remember the time we were poking around the Chief's room, and when he came in, you got so scared you pissed all over the floor?" asked Kuchinawa chuckling. His voice was now calm, happy almost. "That was funny, wasn't it?" Sheena did not respond.

"That WAS FUNNY, WASN'T IT?!" Kuchinawa's mood changed in a flash. He was now quivering with fury. His voice had escalated to a scream.

"Yeah," she responded quietly.

Then, he slapped Sheena across her face. "Shut the hell up!"

Sheena's face stung where he had hit her. She let him continue talking, listening to every insult, every word.

"Then you had to ruin everything!" his voice became dangerously low. "Why?! You had to take away everything from me! All because of you, my life changed so much. I'm going to ask you one more time, why the hell did you do this to me?!" he asked with his eyes on her lowered head.

Sheena raised her head and looked him in the eyes. "I've already explained it to you. I tried my best then, if you can't accept that as the truth-"

Kuchinawa interrupted her with another hard slap. "Damn right I can't accept that as the truth! Know why? Because it's bullshit. Forget it." He pulled out his kunai and stroked it along her neck. Sheena felt the smooth, cold surface of the steel against her warm neck. It could all be over, anytime now.

"Know what I'm going to do after I'm finished with you?" Kuchinawa asked in Sheena's ear. Not waiting for a response, he continued. "I'm going to track down every one of your little friends, and then I'm going to-"

"NO!" Sheena shouted. "You promised you'd leave them alone!"

"I don't keep promises to people like you," he replied simply.

Sheena was stunned. This was a very unfortunate turn of events. She took a long look at Kuchinawa, looking for anything that would convince her that this was not the real Kuchinawa. This was an imposter. There was no way her friend could stoop to this. "You're insane," she said to him, her voice filled with sorrow.

"Insane?! Ha, there's a new one!" Kuchinawa yelled. Then he paused and stopped to consider this. "Hey, you might be on to something there! But it doesn't matter." He took his kunai and without warning, made a sharp cut on Sheena's face.

As the pain registered on her cheek, Sheena saw a red liquid drop down and fall on her clothes. It was beginning. Her death was coming. She could sense it. Something inside her cracked and she suddenly began screaming for help.

Kuchinawa laughed. "Go ahead, yell. I'll scream with you." He took a deep breath and yelled "SOMEBODY HELP!"

Sheena received another blow to the head and she was silenced. Kuchinawa's harsh voice rang in her ear. "Don't you get it? There's nobody around. It's just you and me. This isn't some fairy tale where a knight in shining armor comes and rescues you at the last second. Get that through your head!"

"I think that's where you're wrong." Another voice rang out and the owner stepped into the scene. "Heh, sorry for the corny entrance," he said apologetically, stepping into the scene.

Sheena's head perked up at the sound of the familiar voice. "Zelos!" she exclaimed.

Kuchinawa turned around, startled. He swore under his breath and asked, "How the hell did you find me?"

"The great Zelos Wilder never needs to explain himself to people like you," Zelos said with an idiotic smile on his face. He then noticed the cut across Sheena's face and his smile instantly vanished. He looked at Kuchinawa with intense hatred and quietly asked, "Did you do that to her?"

Kuchinawa stared with equal dislike at Zelos and answered, "Yeah. Are you going to do something about it?"

In a flash, Zelos unsheathed his sword and charged at him. "Son of a bitch, I'm gonna kill you!" he yelled.

"No!" Sheena found herself exclaiming. Zelos stopped at the charge of her voice. "Sheena, are you crazy? This guy's a psycho. He hates your guts. He's trying to kill you!"

"It doesn't have to end with death!" Sheena said. "There's still some good left. I can feel it. If we can talk it out…" her voice suddenly died as she felt a kunai on her neck once more. She heard Kuchinawa's heavy breathing in her ear, and stayed still, paralyzed with fear.

"Damn," Zelos muttered. "How am I gonna get out of this?" he asked himself while scratching his head. "Woah!" he yelled abruptly while dodging a couple of weapons thrown at him.

Kuchinawa had made his move. He moved quickly towards Zelos, aiming for his heart.

"Damn," Zelos muttered again, then proceeded to fend him off.

The fight went on for a full minute, with Sheena yelling at both of them to stop. Zelos swiped at Kuchinawa's leg, but the ninja dodged and left Zelos a wide gash on his right arm. Zelos yelled in pain and elbowed Kuchinawa causing him to end up on the ground, next to Sheena.

Kuchinawa jumped back up and for the third time, put his kunai on Sheena's throat. "Come on, make another move and I'll slit this bitch's throat," he breathed heavily.

"Go ahead," Zelos said casually, brushing his free hand through his hair. Sheena gasped. What the hell was this idiot trying to pull? And was he being serious?

Kuchinawa was equally shocked and drew the kunai away for a second. At this moment, Zelos struck, stabbing the man in his stomach with his sword and knocking his weapon away. Kuchinawa fell to the ground, cursing Zelos.

Zelos squatted and leaned over, examining the body. "You ok?"

Kuchinawa put his head up and spat at him, spraying blood. He took a look at Sheena, still tied up to the tree, watching the scene with horrified eyes.

"Sheena…I'll get you," he gapsed. "I swear I will. Even if I have to come back from hell…" He gave his last breath and collapsed, breathing no more.

Zelos stood up and started untying Sheena. He was bruised and bloody in several places. His clothes were ripped in several places and his hair was not in the same perfect condition it usually was. There were no words spoken as he untied her. Then Sheena noticed that drops of red were falling from Zelos on to her clothes.

She found her voice again and spoke. "…You're bleeding on me."

"Heh, I go through all this for you and that's the first thing you say to me?" Zelos asked staring at her.

"…Sorry."

"Forget about it. You ok?"

"I'll get better."

"Sorry I had to do that."

"Don't worry about it." Sheena blinked back tears. "It's just…he didn't have to go this way, you know?" She buried her head in his chest and let her tears soak through his clothes.

Zelos wrapped his left arm around her and pulled her in a tight embrace. "Yeah…I know." His right arm lay still at his side, dripping blood. Sheena leaned against him, crying silently. The two stood still, close together, waiting for morning to come and relieve them of the night.


	5. Show Me

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia or any of its characters.

There was some kind of typo in the last chapter. Something about Zelos stopping at the charge of her voice. It was supposed to say he stopped at the _sound_ of her voice. Have no idea how the two got mixed up.

-

Ch. 5 – Show Me

--

Sheena caught a snowflake in her hand. "You think Altessa's going to be ok?" she asked her companion, watching the snow melt in her hand.

Zelos looked up at the sky, watching the snow fall as he answered, "Yeah…I know he will. Don't worry about it."

Sheena took a look at Zelos. Somehow, it was comforting to have him reassure her. Ever since the incident with Kuchinawa, she had felt herself growing closer to him. Everyone had been through so much after that night: the Mana Cannon, the Human Ranch and everything else, but she had never forgotten the terror she felt while under Kuchinawa's control and the happiness and relief when Zelos came to save her. They were now in Flanoir, awaiting the fate of Altessa, who had been attacked by Mithos.

"Hey, Zelos…," Sheena started, walking closer to him.

"Hmm? Yes, my hunny?" Zelos asked, tilting his head towards her. It was at this moment Sheena stumbled and tripped towards Zelos causing her to fall on his body with a thud. Their eyes met as the snow fell around them, and they looked at each other's face until Zelos broke the silence.

"Have I ever told you how humongous your chest is?" he asked grinning. Sheena replied with a slap to his head.

"Ow, what was that for?" Zelos whined while rubbing the spot where he was hit.

"We're having a moment," Sheena snapped. "Don't ruin it."

Zelos smirked and laid his head in the snow. "So you wanna just stay here forever on my sexy body? Am I really that great?"

"The moment!" said Sheena, now annoyed. Her comment earned a loud laugh from Zelos. "Ugh," she groaned. "Forget it," she said getting up.

Zelos suddenly lifted his head and put his arms around her neck. He brought her down with gentle force, and before Sheena realized what was happening, their lips had met. Sheena's eyes widened in shock. Her eyes quickly closed, however as she lost herself in the kiss. The two were rolling around in the snow, arms around each other, tongues fiercely clashing.

With Zelos now on top, he loosened his grip as he gently kissed Sheena's neck. Sheena let out a low moan. Then it hit her. Her eyes suddenly opened as she absorbed what was happening at that moment.

"Oh, damn," she muttered. "Get off me!" she said as she pushed the advancing swordsman off. She punched him in the cheek, which caused Zelos to yell in pain and roll to the side clutching his jaw.

"Ow, what the hell, woman?!" Zelos angrily shouted, now standing up. He moved his hand away from his face, and Sheena could see a line of red around his lip.

"Sorry," she quickly said, realizing her mistake too late. "I don't know what happened. I guess I was just surprised."

"Heh," Zelos scoffed, wiping away the blood from his face. Sheena approached him, staring at the spot where she had hit him. He plopped down on the ground and ran his fingers through his hair as he let out a sigh. Sheena also sat down, so that their backs were now leaning against each other.

"Hey…" Sheena started again, staring at the white ground. "I never actually thanked you for saving me that time with Kuchinawa."

"Oh…that," Zelos said quietly, as if not wanting to remember.

"So…thanks," Sheena muttered. She took another look at the sky and watched as the snow fell around her.

"The world feels so peaceful when you look at the snow," she said out loud.

"…Yeah, I guess," Zelos replied with uneasiness in his voice.

"…What's wrong?"

"I…don't really like the snow," came the hesitant voice.

"Really? Well, for somebody who doesn't like snow, you've been outside for quite some time now."

"That's only because you're here."

"Oh…" Sheena thought about this for a while and asked, "Why don't you like the snow?"

"Bad memories."

"Tell me."

Zelos took a deep breath and began talking. "On that day, Meltokio had a record snowfall. It looked just like this city. I was so excited to see snow, and I made a snowman in the garden with my mother." He paused and glanced at the sky. Sheena was leaning on him, listening.

"Then, the snowman fell apart. Red snow began to fall."

Sheena closed her eyes, imagining what had happened. "Who was it?" she asked.

"My mother. She was murdered by Seles' mother. As she fell, she grabbed me and said, 'You should never have been born'. He let out a dry laugh. "Ain't that great?"

Sheena realized what had happened. "It was meant for you?"

"Yup. All because I was a damn Chosen," Zelos replied with a sigh. "I never wanted to be the Chosen. I wished all my life that I could just run away and forget about all this bullshit."

Sheena was reminded of her own past troubles by this comment. "I know what you mean. Ever since I found out I could form pacts with summon spirits, I was treated differently. Even more than before."

She heard Zelos' voice ask, "Yeah? How did that make you feel?"

"Like crap," she replied. Zelos laughed at Sheena's answer and abruptly stood up causing Sheena to fall backwards into the snow.

"Hey!" Sheena yelled lying on the ground.

"Here," Zelos smirked, extending his hand. She took his hand and got up. Without warning, Zelos pulled her body towards him and kissed her on the lips. Sheena pushed him away.

"What the hell are you doing?" Sheena asked hotly.

"What?" Zelos asked innocently.

"You know what! You can't just go kissing anybody whenever you want! Besides, what about the Princess?" Sheena asked.

Zelos frowned. "What about her?"

"Don't you have something going on with her?" Sheena asked, her mind screaming at her to not bring up an old subject.

"Huh?" Zelos looked confused. "No, what gave you that idea?"

Sheena groaned in exasperation. She had already started. She shut out her mind and continued. "That night we came to your house. That night you…saw me in the shower," she mumbled.

Zelos racked his memories, trying to remember the incident Sheena was referring to. Finally, his face showed signs that he remembered. He turned oddly quiet and let out a quiet "Oh."

"You saw us then, huh?" Zelos said smiling weakly. "Look, that was just a…thing I had that night. I don't feel anything for her," he continued.

"So, you're saying that was the only time you did it with her?" Sheena asked.

Zelos hesitated. "Well…no."

"I knew it," Sheena said triumphantly. "How long have you guys been screwing around, then?"

"Since… I met you." His response came as a shock to her. She was left speechless for a long time. When she could speak again, it was only one word. "What?"

"I liked you a lot when I saw you, you know," Zelos said. "But, every time I tried to do something, you'd always get pissed off. So I went to go see Hilda."

"So every time you saw me, you went crying to that whore?!" Sheena asked, her voice rising.

"You don't get it, do you?" Zelos snapped. "I couldn't get my mind off you. Every damn time, it seemed impossible. You would not leave me alone."

"Funny, I thought it was the other way around," Sheena snapped back.

"Every time I was with her, I could only think about you! I only met with Hilda because I liked you!" Zelos shouted.

"Well, you have a screwed up way of showing it!" Sheena yelled back, storming off, leaving Zelos standing in the snow.

* * *

Quite some time later, Sheena was inside her room, pondering the events that had occurred. Why did she feel this way? Anger. Sorrow. Envy. Disgust. But, before that, she had felt other things. Peace. Happiness. Kindness. Love.

Love? That was it. What she had felt the first time they kissed. It was what she had been wanting the whole time. She had been denying it to herself. Convinced herself that there was no way that she could fall for an idiot like that. Yet, at this moment, as she lay in her bed, she had to admit that it could be nothing else. She hurried off to find Zelos.

It was snowing heavily. As Sheena went outside, she was hit in the face with snow. Brushing it off her face, she ran. As she arrived at the location where they had been before, she found no sign of him. She let out a sigh, and started to head back.

"Yo," an all-too familiar voice called.

"Get inside," Sheena told him. "It's way too cold. I hear there's gonna be a storm soon."

"I know."

"You know? Then what the hell are you doing? Trying to kill yourself?"

"Why are you here?" Zelos asked, smiling sadly. He stroked his hair, but the usual happiness he exuded wasn't there. "Come to hear more about Hilda and me? I can tell you if you want."

"No," Sheena answered. This was the moment. What did she really want? Her mind and her heart told her it was the wrong thing to do. Everything in her body was screaming that it was the wrong thing to do, that if she did this, it would all end horribly.

"Screw it," she thought to herself, disregarding every nerve in her body. She paused, took a deep breath and said what she wanted to say, looking straight into his eyes.

"Show me."

Zelos smiled. His cheerful smile was soon replaced by an evil grin on his face. "As you wish," he said as he put her arms around her. They lips met once more, only this time Sheena willingly accepted it. This one was different. Gentler, yet she received more satisfaction from it.

Zelos broke the kiss and looked into her face. The snow had started to fall harder than before. They headed inside.


	6. It's Not True

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of Symphonia.

--

Ch. 6 – It's Not True

--

Sheena opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling. The bed felt so soft and comfrotable, she wanted to go back to sleep. She suddenly realized she was naked and memories of the previous night flooded her mind. It had been some night. Their bodies had been entangled the whole time. The things she had felt were unlike anything she had ever experienced before. As he had held her, she had felt that she would never want to leave his arms.

As she reminisced, she slowly rolled to her side expecting to find Zelos sleeping peacefully by her side. But instead, she found that she was the only one in the bed.

Sheena sat up abruptly as shock registered through her body. Did something happen? Then an object on the bed caught her eye. She recognized it as a good luck charm that was sold in Flanoir. There was a note alongside it. She picked it up and started reading.

_Yo, Sheena. In case you didn't know already, this is a Flanoir snow bunny. It's supposed to bring good luck to you. I don't believe in these things, but you're sure as hell going to need it. Anyways, just wanted to tell you that I'm glad I got to spend last night with you before I go._

Before he goes? What the hell was he talking about? He couldn't have…left?!

"Bastard," she said out loud. Sheena found herself dropping the charm and note. It fell back to the bed and lay there, further untouched. She hurriedly got out of bed and started to put her clothes back on, her mind racing. Why did he bother sending her this charm? Did his note mean something? She raced out the door towards the exit of the city.

As she neared the exit, she saw a group of people gathered. She recognized everyone discussing, and hurried along.

"Hey, where's Zelos?" she asked, panting.

Lloyd looked at her puzzled. "He's right here, why?"

"Huh?" Sheena looked around, and sure enough. He was standing around, talking to Raine, as if nothing had happened.

Zelos noticed Sheena and yelled to her. "Hey, finally woke up? We're all waiting for you!" Sheena walked over to the swordsman and slapped him.

"Hey! What's wrong?" he exclaimed, rubbing his face.

"What was all that about?" Sheena demanded, her hands on her hips.

"What was all what about?" Zelos asked.

"You know! The charm! The note! The 'I'm leaving'!"

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Zelos replied stiffly, still nursing the spot where he was hit.

"Don't play dumb with me!" she snapped. "I thought it was something serious."

"Aw," Zelos crooned. "You're worried about me!" He hugged her and Sheena pushed him off herself, and angrily walked away.

How could he do this? How could he just pretend like last night was nothing? Looking at him now, she hardly found herself believing the events of the night before happened. Well, if he was going to stay silent about it, she certainly wasn't going to press the issue. She vowed to never talk with him again as she gathered along with the rest of the group and listened to Lloyd talk.

"Everyone," Lloyd began, "This is it."

"This is our final battle," Raine said. "Are you sure you're ready?"

"Whoo!" Zelos shouted. "So we're finally gonna raid Cruxis! Let's do this!" he yelled as he ran off to his Rheaird. Several members of the group shook their heads as they pretended not to know the redheaded man. But Lloyd just laughed out loud.

"All right, let's go!"

* * *

"There it is. The Eternal Sword," Lloyd breathed.

Zelos spoke up at this time. "All right, guys. Leave everything to me."

Sheena found herself breaking the promise she had made a few minutes ago. "Leave it to you? What are you gonna do?" she blurted out.

"I figured something like this might happen, so I prepared a little something the last time we were here," Zelos replied, walking towards the sword. Suddenly, he stopped a few steps away from it.

"Colette, come over here for a sec," Zelos cheerfully said. Sheena felt that something was wrong. After all this time she had spent around Zelos, she had come to realize when he was faking his emotions. This was one of those times. The cheeriness in his voice was fake. He was definitely hiding something. She kept her silence, trying to figure it out.

"Me…? Okay," Colette responded brightly as she walked to him. As Sheena watched her walk towards Zelos, she knew something was afoot. Something bad was going to happen. Right now. Every step that Colette took, Sheena heard every thud of her footsteps as if it was as loud as thunder. Her chest beat harder with every step. Everything in her body screamed at her to stop Colette from moving any closer.

But she didn't. And she paid the price.

Three angels appeared out of nowhere, surrounding Colette. A new voice spoke.

"Good work, Chosen. Now…bring her to me."

"Sure thing," responded Zelos in his usual cheerful tone. Colette was then transported to Pronyma's side, held captive within a blue magic circle.

"Pronyma," Raine hissed, under her breath.

"Zelos!" Genis exclaimed.

But the sibling's outcries were unheard to Sheena. She fought to keep her voice in control. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"Oh, shut up," Zelos snapped. His usual bright demeanor changed. Sheena could sense the bitterness in his voice. "I'm just putting myself on the winning side. It's inevitable that you're going to fail."

Sheena's thoughts went back to the snow hare charm that he had left in the morning. Her heart sank in realization. This was what he had meant. This is when he would be leaving her. After she had finally come to understand him, he was the one leaving her. After years of him pursuing her and her finally accepting his advances, he was the one to leave.

"Why?" Sheena breathed softly.

"Colette wanted to be a sacrifice anyways," Zelos replied simply.

Lloyd broke in. "Zelos…you're a traitor," he spat.

"Betray you?" Pronyma asked. She sounded amused. "Zelos couldn't betray you because he was our spy from the very beginning."

The rest of the party was in shock. Sheena felt worse.

Colette spoke for the first time since her incarceration within the small circle. "It's not true! Please tell me she's lying!" she pleaded.

"I side with the strongest," Zelos coldly answered. "It was a simple matter of weighing Cruxis, the Renegades, and all of you."

Sheena found her anger returning. "The Renegades too?! Don't tell me this is true. Don't do this. I know you're a good person."

"Why, thank you my sweet voluptuous hunny," Zelos said smiling, with an air of sarcasm. He turned his back to them and continued. "But in the end, I choose this side. Because Mithos promised to release me from my fate as a Chosen of Mana."

Regal interrupted. "Does everything we have accomplished so far mean nothing to you? You hate being the Chosen so much that you would betray everyone?"

Zelos turned around as if he had been struck. His playful attitude was gone, and when he spoke it was out of pure anger. "Oh yeah, I do. My life has been a total joke because of that title. All that about the Chosen being honored and everything? That's all bullshit. I can't stand it."

Sheena was speechless. Zelos then sat down casually, facing the group. Sheena felt his eyes pierce hers. With one arm on his leg, he ran his fingers through his hair with the other arm and smirked.

"Surprised?"


	7. Tears

Disclaimer: I own nothing

Last chapter.

-

Ch. 7 – Tears

--

"Lady Pronyma, hurry up and take her," Zelos said while staring at the shocked expressions on the faces of those who were once his friends.

Pronyma's response came. "I'll leave the rest to you." The circle around her began to glow.

"Lloyd! Lloyd!! Lloyd!!" Colette screamed as she began to fade. In an instant, they were gone.

Zelos stood up and smiled sadly. "So…this is how it ends." He let out a sigh as he unsheathed his sword. Sheena was tempted to run over and embrace him when she caught a look of his face. He looked so lonely. So alone. She could see the sorrow in his eyes. But her anger at his betrayal prevented her from doing this. For the millionth time she asked herself, "How did this happen?"

"Why?" she whispered out loud, her eyes on the verge of tears. All eyes were now on her. Her old feelings of anger overtook her and she screamed that one word over and over at the man she thought she had loved.

"Why?! Why?! Why?!"

Zelos let out a little laugh. "Heh, I don't know what to tell you. I'm just a weak, lazy bum…" He began to glow and orange wings emerged from his back as he assumed a fighting position. He cocked his head and looked at Sheena in the eyes. "Idiot Chosen, right? Isn't that all I am?"

The rest of the party assumed their battle positions as well. Sheena took out her weapon and blinked back her tears. She vowed to make this man pay for toying with her emotions.

Zelos kept smiling as he looked over his former friends. Sheena thought she felt his gaze on her the longest. Her memories of the times she had spent with him continued to flash by in her head. She quickly tried to erase any positive thoughts about him. She could not show any weakness in this fight. She told herself that she had to completely destroy him. What he had done was unforgivable.

"Might as well…go all out, right?" Zelos asked everyone.

"You bastard," Sheena replied bitterly.

If the insult affected him in any way, he did not show it on his face as he brushed it off. "You can call me what you like, but it's not gonna change a thing. Ready?"

Lloyd replied sadly, "Ready when you are."

Zelos charged at Lloyd and their swords struck each other's with a loud clash. At this moment, Sheena charged. The battle had begun.

* * *

For Sheena, the fight seemed to go on forever. A slash here. A cut there. Everyone traded blows until they were exhausted.

Zelos wiped his forehead and chuckled. He spat blood and cleaned the red off his lips. "Damn, you guys don't quit, do you?"

"Why do you even bother asking that?" Sheena questioned as she attacked. Something had been bothering her throughout this battle. She had received minor injuries, but compared to everyone else, it was nothing. She knew that it wasn't some coincidence. She was not being targeted at all. What was he trying to do?

"Sorry, guys. Looks like I'm gonna have to end this. We had some great times, ya know?" Zelos said as he began to glow.

"Ready for this? Judgment!" White rays of light came down from the ceiling and struck. Raine and Genis collapsed instantly. Regal and Presea went down soon after that. Lloyd held his ground. Sheena was only slightly grazed.

"Heh, if I had to guess who could've survived that, it would've been you two," Zelos said.

"What?! You mean they're…" Lloyd started.

"No, they're not dead. Just knocked out for quite some time. Although if I had wanted to kill them, I could've," Zelos replied.

His head turned to Lloyd's direction. "You're next, Lloyd." Without warning, Zelos quickly approached Lloyd and kneed him in the stomach.

Lloyd let out a low groan and fell to his knees. Zelos delivered a swift kick to the side of his head and Lloyd collapsed to the ground.

"Damn," Sheena muttered. Zelos was now approaching her, taking his time. "Gonna kill me?" she spat.

Zelos shook his head. "Didn't I just say I'm not gonna kill anyone? Really, you were never a bright one."

"So then, what?!" Sheena screamed. "Why the hell did you do this?!" Her lungs burned as she screamed and targeted all her pain at him.

Zelos ignored her screams and closed his eyes. "You know, I really am sorry, Sheena. It could've never worked out between us two."

Sheena was stunned. "Wha-" she stammered. Why was he bringing that up now?

"Demon Fang!" At the sound of Lloyd's voice, Zelos' eyes immediately opened. He quickly dodged the attack and looked around. Everyone was on their feet. Weapons in hand, looking as if they were pushed to their limits.

Zelos began a slow clap. "I'm impressed. How long can you keep this up?" He gathered energy in his palms and cast another spell. "Grave!" Sharp stones protruded from the ground. Sheena felt a stone dig into her skin and was knocked to the floor. Clutching her bleeding side, she glanced at her enemy who was now crossing swords with Lloyd. In his movements, she saw something. An opening. Her mind raced. She could end this in one hit. It was possible. Highly improbable, but possible.

As Zelos knocked Lloyd to the ground, he caught Sheena looking at him. Sheena could not hear as her ears were assaulted with the sounds of metal clashing and other sounds of the battle. But she was sure of what she had seen. As if he had read her mind about the opening, she saw Zelos' mouth sadly form the words: Go ahead. For that instant, his face reflected the sorrow that he was experiencing.

With her side burning with pain, she gritted her teeth and stood up. She ran towards him, her weapon in hand. She screamed out loud. She screamed at his betrayal. She screamed at his so-called love that he had dared to contaminate her with. And with her final scream, she delivered the fatal blow to his heart.

Time stopped. The rest of the party stood still, looking amazed. Nobody could believe it, but it was all over.

"Damn," Zelos said as he laughed weakly. He fell backwards to the ground with a thud. "That was pretty good," he said with his eyes closed.

A sinking realization came over Sheena. She had killed him. Even if he had not died right away, he still only had a few minutes to live. The process was irreversible. She had killed him. No, he had let her kill him. Combat wise, she knew that she could not touch Zelos. No matter how skilled she was, she was no match for him. Only one word was going through her mind. And that one word was repeated a million times.

As she knelt down over his limp body, her tears fell on his body. "Why?" she asked again.

Zelos let out a low laugh as he slowly opened his eyes. "Is that your new favorite word?" he asked weakly, as if it hurt to laugh. He suddenly coughed up blood. It splattered on Sheena's shirt, leaving a thick blot of red.

Sheena gazed down at the spot of red and a memory of Kuchinawa came up. She remembered the first words she had spoken to Zelos after he had rescued her from Kuchinawa. As if he knew what she was thinking about, Zelos grinned sheepishly. "Sorry for bleeding on your shirt," he gasped, now drawing his last breaths.

Sheena began to blink back her tears, as that moment came up in her mind clearer than ever.

"Hey, don't cry. You look so much better when you're smiling," Zelos said. Sheena was speechless. He was dying, yet he was doing all the talking. Even in death, the guy still couldn't shut up. She smiled faintly. He was struggling with every word he spoke, but she could not even say one word. Words failed to express what Sheena was feeling. Yet, that didn't matter. Zelos showed silent understanding. She knew by looking in his eyes. He had been the only one to understand her back then, he was the only person to understand her now. She lifted and embraced his dying body so that he wouldn't see her teary face. As her tears died, she looked at his face.

"Colette's below, in the hall of the Great Seed," Zelos gasped as if he knew his time was up. "Make sure…you save her…"

_Sheena, I'm sorry. I can't say that enough. Life's a bitch, isn't it? I can feel myself heading towards that white light. We both know what that means. I'm gonna die soon. Don't worry about it too much. It was bound to happen sooner or later. I'm just holding my last breath, looking at you. Before I die, the last thing I want to see is your face. So smile for me… _

Sheena heard Zelos breathe his last and saw his head fall to the ground as she let go of his body. As he lay in front of her, lifeless, the tears pushed harder than ever. They fought to get out, they wanted to fall to the ground and reflect her sorrow. But she did not let them flow. Zelos had told her not to cry. She closed her eyes, smiled sadly, and muttered her last words to the corpse.

"Damn…idiot…"


	8. Alternate Ending

Disclaimer: I do not own anything that may appear in this story.

If you didn't like the final chapter, here is an alternate ending. If you end up liking this ending better, you can imagine it as the real ending. If you think they both suck, I'm sorry.

-

Ch. 8 – Alternate Ending

--

"Well, I'll see you all later," Zelos casually said. He turned his back on his former friends and spoke to Pronyma. "Lady Pronyma, we better get going."

As Zelos warped himself besides Pronyma, the circle began to glow. "Lloyd! Lloyd!! Lloyd!!" Colette screamed as she began to fade. Sheena caught Zelos' smug face as he too faded. Her anger boiled up inside her. What the hell was he doing?

"Disappear!" one of the angels said in a deep voice. They glided down on the group, weapons in hand. Sheena stood still, waiting for the blow to hit. When it never came, she saw why. Three other figures had appeared to combat the angels.

"Orochi!" Sheena exclaimed. "What are you all doing here?"

"We'll explain later," Orochi replied hastily. "Get ready, here they come."

The angels fell quickly to the group's combined efforts. When the battle was over, Sheena asked her question again. "So what are you all doing here?"

"The Vice-Chief," Orochi said as if that explained everything. "We heard that you were going into the final battle," he continued. "Right now, you must all hurry and save Colette."

"Right," Lloyd said nodding his head. "Let's go everyone!" They all headed into the warp circle and disappeared. When they reappeared, they were in a completely different place.

"Where are we?" Presea asked out loud.

"It doesn't matter," Raine replied. "We need to make our way further down." With that, the group proceeded to find their way to the lower level. Monsters ambushed them on nearly every turn. They were quickly vanquished. As they continued their path, Sheena's thoughts returned to Zelos. How dare he do this? This was what he had meant to leave her. What was he trying to do? Questions burned through Sheena's mind as she eliminated monsters one by one. Sooner or later, they arrived to an opening. The sound of bells filled the area. Everybody looked around for the source.

"Look!" Genis shouted. "Angels!"

"Here they come," Regal warned everybody. The battle ended quickly, but for each angel to go down, two more took its place.

"Damn," Lloyd grunted. "There's too many of them," he said while slashing one down.

Regal spied an exit. "Make a break for that passage," he commanded.

"All right." As Lloyd and the rest of the group made it through, Regal unleashed a kick, crumpling the pillars and blocking the entrance to the passage.

"What the hell, Regal?" Lloyd asked furiously.

"Leave. Go rescue Colette. You're the only one who can. I'll hold them off," came the deep voice. Sheena could no longer see him.

"Come on Lloyd, we've got to get out of here," Genis said, tugging on Lloyd's shirt.

"I can't just leave him," Lloyd protested.

"It was his choice. There's nothing we can do about it. Let's move!"

Lloyd reluctantly headed away from the blocked passage. "Don't die, Regal. You hear me?!" With that, the group moved forward.

_He's gone for sure_, Sheena thought as she ran with the rest of the party down the long staircase. There was no way even Regal could survive the massive horde's attack. When they reached the bottom, they came upon what appeared to be the remains of a gigantic tree. As they tried to pass under, one of the tree's branches struck, hitting the ground, narrowly missing Sheena.

"Hey," Lloyd said, surprised. "This tree won't let us through."

Sheena carefully observed it. It looked strangely familiar. They she realized. "Hang on," she said. "This thing looks like leftovers from earlier."

"Are you referring to the Giant Tree?" Raine asked.

"Yep," Sheena answered. "No doubt about it. I'll take care of this, guys." She summoned several Summon Spirits and gathered their power.

"Hey," Lloyd asked. "What are you doing?"

"My impression of the Mana Cannon," she replied. "It's not going to be as powerful, but it should get us past this thing. When I give the signal, you guys should run under it, got it?"

"Got it."

Sheena unleashed the energy of the Spirits. The tree started writhing on contact. "Now!" she yelled. She watched everyone hustle past the helpless tree. The walls started shaking, and the bridge gave away. Sheena was knocked to the ground.

"Sheena, are you okay?" came the voice of Lloyd.

She stood up, dirtied and bruised. "Yeah," she answered. "That drained me a lot, I'm just gonna rest for a-" She let out a surprised scream as a branch emerged from the hole and started to drag her into the black abyss. She managed to grab a hold of the ledge as she grunted in pain.

"Sheena!" Lloyd cried. "Hang on. I'll be there in-"

"Don't worry about me," Sheena interrupted. "Hurry and save Colette,"

"This is not the time to act all tough."

"I'm not acting," she retorted. "I've done this kind of stuff, before. Believe me. I won't miss the main event."

"You better not be lying," Lloyd warned.

"Of course," Sheena lied as she grinned faintly.

"All right," Lloyd said. "I'll be waiting," he said as he and the rest of the group took off.

Sheena let out a low groan. Her hand was starting to slip. "Damn," she said out loud. "I should've let him rescue me. Heh…" Her mind raced as she thought of everything that she had been through. Zelos. His face shone brightly than everything else in her head. What did she think of him now? Her emotions were mixed up. How quickly she could change. A big difference from last night, that was for sure. She left the question unanswered as his face stayed in her head.

With his face in her mind, she took her last breath and let go of the ledge, allowing the darkness to swallow her.

A hand suddenly grasped hers. "Well, I'm glad you didn't let him rescue you," said a voice she knew too well. "If he had, I wouldn't have been able to rescue my favorite hunny myself."

"What are you up to?" Sheena asked suspiciously, after she had recovered from the shock. Her heart had leapt when she saw him. The hair, the face, the idiotic grin. Everything was exactly as she had pictured it when she had let go of the ledge. She felt the warmth of his hand and used her free hand to grip the ledge.

"Relax," Zelos said. "I'm here. Just don't do anything stupid now." He pulled her up stared at her figure. "As busty as always," he smirked.

Overcome with emotion, Sheena tightly embraced him. The question in her head was answered.

"Surprised?" Zelos whispered in her ear.

"Damn idiot…"

--

Bleh. This chapter was harder for me to write. Well, it's over. Thanks to everyone who bothered to read this and special thanks to everyone who bothered to leave reviews. I still consider myself new at this. That's my excuse if you thought it was terrible. I'm never writing another romance fic again. It's too much stress for me. : (


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